I've been working on this for a couple of weeks, and it's not perfect of course, but this video is about as good as I'm going to manage. I'm supposed to play this next Sunday night in church for a solstice celebration, and possibly on Christmas Eve too (our minister loves Tolkien, and I've played LotR music on Christmas Eve for most of the past ten years.)

You'll notice that I start off with the tune from the old Hobbit cartoon. That was probably the first piece I ever played on my harp, back in 1980. Then I go to the new tune. They are enough similar and enough different to make a nice combination. Sorry it's so twangy. I think that's the fault of my little camera.

I'm also showing off my new dwarf beard in the video :-D

link~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "For DORA BAGGINS in memory of a LONG correspondence, with love from Bilbo; on a large wastebasket. Dora was Drogo's sister, and the eldest surviving female relative of Bilbo and Frodo; she was ninety-nine, and had written reams of good advice for more than half a century." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "A Chance Meeting at Rivendell" and other stories

Holly would have been fun, though I'm not sure how I would ever have gotten it untangled. I thought too late of putting my elf hat on top of the dwarf hat. And maybe a bow in the beard to show I'm a girl dwarf. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "For DORA BAGGINS in memory of a LONG correspondence, with love from Bilbo; on a large wastebasket. Dora was Drogo's sister, and the eldest surviving female relative of Bilbo and Frodo; she was ninety-nine, and had written reams of good advice for more than half a century." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "A Chance Meeting at Rivendell" and other stories

I look forward to your rendition of "Fifteen Birds in Five Fir-trees".
[In reply to]

Can't Post

From the Rankin-Bass cartoon, of course, since that song is missing from the new film. (Which is a pity, since the new "Far over the misty mountains cold" is as good as the older version.) -*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*- <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><> Discuss Tolkien's life and works in the Reading Room! +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+= How to find old Reading Room discussions.

I'm supposed to play on the 23rd for a solstice service, and on the 24th for Christmas Eve. But you're really tempting me away from my duties. And while I'm at it, maybe I'll learn "Tra la la lally", which I was really disappointed not to hear in the new movie. And "Down, down to Goblin Town". ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "For DORA BAGGINS in memory of a LONG correspondence, with love from Bilbo; on a large wastebasket. Dora was Drogo's sister, and the eldest surviving female relative of Bilbo and Frodo; she was ninety-nine, and had written reams of good advice for more than half a century." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "A Chance Meeting at Rivendell" and other stories

While I was at it, I did "Carefully carefully with the plates", "Tra-la-la lally", "Down down to Goblin Town", and "Fifteen Birds in Five Fir Trees". I only gave it half an hour to work them out and record them, so they're not at all polished. And my harp only has the white strings, so I had to leave out some of the parts of the tunes. "Fifteen Birds" is actually a pretty sweet tune, at least the part I can play.

Be careful what you wish for. Here's the link I'm uploading it to youtube, so it will take a few minutes for it to be live. But if you come back to this post in a bit it should be there. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "For DORA BAGGINS in memory of a LONG correspondence, with love from Bilbo; on a large wastebasket. Dora was Drogo's sister, and the eldest surviving female relative of Bilbo and Frodo; she was ninety-nine, and had written reams of good advice for more than half a century." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "A Chance Meeting at Rivendell" and other stories

(I know because we wrote the date on the bottom of it.) I started playing then. I can read music, but on the harp I just play by ear. I had a background in piano and guitar, so with that it was easy to pick up the harp. ( I'm not that good at piano and guitar either, but I've played both of them mostly by ear for most of my life.)

The strings are the "white notes" on a piano, so I'm limited as far as tunes. I put the chords in the left hand and the melody in the right. The strings are marked by color: the Cs are red and the Fs are blue, so you can keep track of where you are.

Most harps have either pedals or sharping levers that allow you to do sharps and flats, but mine doesn't, which makes it much simpler to play, if more limited But by skipping the occasional note and choosing my key wisely, I can manage a lot of tunes. I play modal tunes like "Cutty Wren" in the key of G, major tunes in C, and minor tunes in Am (or Dm for modal tunes). ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "For DORA BAGGINS in memory of a LONG correspondence, with love from Bilbo; on a large wastebasket. Dora was Drogo's sister, and the eldest surviving female relative of Bilbo and Frodo; she was ninety-nine, and had written reams of good advice for more than half a century." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "A Chance Meeting at Rivendell" and other stories

I'm glad you're going to go see the movie soon. We came out of it grinning. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "For DORA BAGGINS in memory of a LONG correspondence, with love from Bilbo; on a large wastebasket. Dora was Drogo's sister, and the eldest surviving female relative of Bilbo and Frodo; she was ninety-nine, and had written reams of good advice for more than half a century." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "A Chance Meeting at Rivendell" and other stories

What has occurred is a intra-generational DNA change adjustment of the human species to deal with adverse conditions of the day. In this case to deal with the harsh environmental weather conditions of the high mountains *sporting straight face classroom demeanor of Indiana Jones*

the two themes went together perfectly! I admire your ability to arrange as well as play--seamless segue from one to the other.

And, There! Now you've had your run-through. It will go great on Sunday and on Christmas Eve! I'll be thinking about you (I'm playing Sunday morning as well, with a quartet. Some bits of Handel's Messiah" and some carols. Maybe we'll cross-pollinate somehow, and the middle of Joy to the World will suddenly morph into the Hobbit theme, and off in Colorado, Thorin will be heard to sing "It Came Upon a Midnight Clear")

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "For DORA BAGGINS in memory of a LONG correspondence, with love from Bilbo; on a large wastebasket. Dora was Drogo's sister, and the eldest surviving female relative of Bilbo and Frodo; she was ninety-nine, and had written reams of good advice for more than half a century." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "A Chance Meeting at Rivendell" and other stories

Howard Shore has a lovely tune here. It sounds really good on pyour harp

In the film, I was surprised to hear it as a dirge- but the realised that's completely appropriate to the words and how the song represents the dispossession of the dwarves. My surprise was to get used to not reading the song properly in the book, having decided the dwarves were a bit light-hearted and can we begin with the story, please.

There's a more uptempo version I the films closing title- had I not had an urgent quest to the porcelain room after a long film, I'd have listened to that harder.

Which is to set up this comment on your performance: It sounds lovely on your harp. I love the left hand (baselines) you've made to support the melody. I thought of this as perhaps a Fourth Age version: the bitterness of dispossession is softened by distance, and we can enjoy a dark ancient tune the more for now knowing the light at the end of that particular tunnel. The Coventry Carol comes to mind in Christmas music.

A technical question - I office that the right hand most does the melody and the left accompanies, like one would do on a keyboard. You Have to do it that way around on a piano, unless you want to lie on the lid. But it looks like one could physically play the harp either way around. Is that what harpists do, or is it conventional to play "right handed"?

Yes, it's traditional to play the harp with the high notes in the right hand, usually playing the melody, and chords in the left. But as you say, it could be done either way. I seem to remember that Harpo Marx did it the other way.

If you're interested, I have a couple of harp pieces from LotR on my youtube channel as well. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "For DORA BAGGINS in memory of a LONG correspondence, with love from Bilbo; on a large wastebasket. Dora was Drogo's sister, and the eldest surviving female relative of Bilbo and Frodo; she was ninety-nine, and had written reams of good advice for more than half a century." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "A Chance Meeting at Rivendell" and other stories

I was thinking that the Misty Mountains (unaccompanied male voices) sounds very like the song Aragorn sings at his coronation. Not just the unaccompanied male voices, but same key (Gm, I think) and similar tune. I wonder if that means anything? E.g so as to start and end things with similar music?

And btw I enjoyed your story "chance meeting at Rivendell" - I think. You get Bilbos "voice" very well: "Hobbits are notoriously incurious. " &c

You're right, the dwarves' song does sound like Aragorn's coronation song! I hadn't picked up on that. Now I'll have to go back and listen to Aragorn's song again. I wonder if there is any conscious connection, as you say, or if it's just that a composer sometimes ends up sounding like himself.

I love finding musical connections. My very first post on TORn, back in the First Age, was about how the main tune for LotR ("In Dreams") sounded a lot like "This is My Father's World'. I didn't mean that it was plagiarism or anything, just that I like finding musical echoes. I've also noticed that the hobbits' drinking song in the EEs (Merry and Pippin dancing on the table) is very similar to "Green Grow the Rushes-O".

Thanks so much for reading my little fanfic and your kind words about it. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "For DORA BAGGINS in memory of a LONG correspondence, with love from Bilbo; on a large wastebasket. Dora was Drogo's sister, and the eldest surviving female relative of Bilbo and Frodo; she was ninety-nine, and had written reams of good advice for more than half a century." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "A Chance Meeting at Rivendell" and other stories

I like the way you bookended the piece with the older song. It's a nice way to showcase the connections between interpreters of Tolkien's work! Walk to Rivendell: There and Back Again Challenge - getting thirteen rowdy Dwarves, one grumpy Wizard, and a beleaguered Hobbit from Bag End to the Lonely Mountain by December 2012; and the same Hobbit and Wizard back to Bag End by December 2013

...you can sing the words of "Jerusalem " to the tune of "Misty Mountains Cold"

Unexpected. Disclaimers: The words of noWizardme may stand on their heads! I'm often wrong about things, and its fun to be taught more....

"nowimė I am in the West, Furincurunir to the Dwarves (or at least, to their best friend) and by other names in other lands. Mostly they just say 'Oh no it's him - look busy!' " Or "Hold off! unhand me, grey-beard loon!"